“If you want to be a good fisherman, you’ve got to start practicing! “

Oh, and I also don’t have any desire to be good at fishing.

So, there you have it. I’ve just given the summary of this article right at the start. We’re talking about the two essential ingredients that absolutely must be present in any scenario in which you want to affect any kind of positive change: AWARENESS and SKILL. We discussed Awareness in the previous article. And my thoughts on Skill; well, that’s summarized above.

To get good at something, you have to want to. And you have to go for it! Work at it. Practice.

I don’t want to be good at fishing, so one does not have to be a prophet to foresee that I’ll never be a good fisherman. One only needs to know that I don’t care to be skilled at fishing to know that I never will be.

This is all fine. In fact, to most readers, it will register a big, “Duh – we know this!”

So, here’s the question: If we know this, why do so few of us apply this simple rule of thumb? You know that you’ve got to want the skill in order get the skill and you’ve got to practice the skill to really acquire it. In order to master ourselves, master the art of human relations, and be maximally effective in the ways we serve the world around us [Personal, Interpersonal, Professional – the emphasis of this blog], then we’ve got to learn the skills that will make the difference and then we must apply those skills. Reading stuff we agree with and that inspires and motivates is a great start, but it is only a start.

Do you want to stop sabotaging yourself? Do you want to stop being a part of the reason relationships fail? Do you want to accomplish more with your life?

I know I do. Do you? Well, do you? You don’t unless you are willing to learn and apply the requisite skills.

Failing to take the step of going beyond awareness, including the awareness that you’ve got to learn and apply certain skills in order to effectuate change, you will stay right where you are. It’s not enough to know you’ve got to learn and apply skills. You’ve got to do it!

If you want to be a good fisherman, you’ve got to start practicing! Don’t just agree that you need to start practicing … which is like what many of us do when we read books on personal development, and agree with what we read, but do not take the concrete steps advocated in the books. That’s being irresponsible!

Want to blast through thinking patterns that have gotten you nowhere personally, interpersonally, and professionally? Start practicing new thought patters. One suggestion: go visit PJ McClure, The Mindset Maven, get his book, Flip the Switch, and devour it — then go visit Noah St. John at the Success Clinic and get his book, The Secret Code of Success, and become an expert at what he calls “afformations”; asking the kinds of questions that supercharge your subconscious. These are two books that will provide you with massive assistance when it comes to you giving yourself specific direction to get whatever it is that you want to get in this life.